ASH: Hypertensive Patients Are Active, Could Do Better

Action Points

Explain to interested patients that the Department of Health and Human Services recommends at least 150 minutes of moderate-to-intense physical activity or 75 minutes of vigorous activity each week for all Americans.

Explain that this study shows that the majority of U.S. adults report getting enough exercise, but that those with hypertension are less likely to achieve the recommended levels.

Note that this study was published as an abstract and presented at a conference. These data and conclusions should be considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

NEW YORK -- Most U.S. adults with hypertension get the amount of weekly exercise recommended for all Americans, but they still fall short of their normotensive counterparts, a cross-sectional study showed.

In a national survey of nearly 400,000 individuals, 66.9% overall and 60.2% of those with hypertension reported exercise equivalent to 150 minutes of moderate activity per week, according to James Churilla, PhD, MPH, of the University of North Florida in Jacksonville.

"Even though people with hypertension do come in strikingly high as far as being active, they're not getting the benefits of leading a more active lifestyle," he said in an interview.

Churilla said he was surprised by how active the hypertensive population was, but noted that self-reported data, as used in this study, can be unreliable.

Other national surveys, including the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), have found that only 25% to 40% of the general population meets the physical activity recommendations.

Churilla said the American College of Sports Medicine is trying to make exercise a vital sign that would be checked along with blood pressure, height, weight, and other vital signs at every medical visit as a way to increase physical activity levels in the population.

"There needs to be a multidisciplinary approach. It's not just activity. It's not just pharmacology. It has to be a whole approach starting with the primary care physician," he said.

To explore the physical activity patterns of individuals with hypertension, Churilla and Earl Ford, MD, MPH, of the CDC's Division of Adult and Community Health in Atlanta, analyzed data from 391,017 adults using the 2007 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Survey. Hypertension status and exercise were self-reported.

The researchers determined whether the respondents met the 2008 recommendations from the Department of Health and Human Services for 150 minutes of moderate to intense physical activity, 75 minutes of vigorous activity, or an equivalent combination of the two, per week.

The age-adjusted prevalence of hypertension was 27.2% overall. Men were slightly more likely to report having hypertension (28.5% versus 25.7%).

In all three BMI categories, hypertensive individuals were significantly more likely to report being inactive (P<0.0001 for all).

There were some racial differences among those with hypertension: non-Hispanics blacks were less likely to report being highly active compared with non-Hispanic whites, Hispanics, and those in the "other" category (P<0.05 for all).

Churilla said the use of self-reported data was a limitation of the study.

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